IJN Yamato 1945 by CDW - Pontos - 1:700 Scale - PLASTIC

[CDW]

[lmagna]

On 10/25/2021 at 3:17 PM, mtaylor said:

So the  builders at this scale are masochists and we're just voyeurs?   

They don't call it "ship porn" for nothing!

[CDW]

Just now, lmagna said:

They don't call it "ship porn" for nothing!

Going to need "Eddie Haskell" in my signature line. 

[Canute]

Those bits the carbide versions, Craig? They're brittle. I went back to the HSS versions. You did well with drilling so many holes per bit. I figure on 2 drill bits per car, if I'm replacing grab irons on an older car with grabs versus ladders.

[RogerF]

On 10/25/2021 at 4:33 PM, CDW said:

That self flagellation cult I joined called, 1:700 scale warship modelers, has a strangle hold on me. Hellllpppp!!! 🙂

Until I joined this forum I thought I was the only one and felt so alone, now I feel safe to come out of the closet - there are DOZENS of us in here!

[RogerF]

On 10/27/2021 at 11:02 PM, CDW said:

I managed to break just five of the new drill bits I ordered while creating the portholes on one side of the hull. Half down, half more to go. 
 

Were you using a pin-vice or drill or just your hands when drilling?

I bought a little battery-powered, 3-speed drill that can be charged via USB. I have used it extensively and the only drill bit I managed to snap after buying it was a 0.3mm drill which stabbed my thumb when I was removing another drill from a box of 50 micro-drills and broke off its shank in the process, and yes, there was blood! It disappeared into the flesh of my thumb with alarmingly kittle pressure.

 

This build has to be followed, but there is not a chance I'll be following suit. With Hood started, and a little more complex Bismarck to follow there is no way I could take on that Yamato beast but I'm really looking forward to a fellow "masochist" ruining his eyes, back and patience with this kit.

The trouble with these 1/700 kits is that in the photographs they look so innocuous. Complex, yes but the parts appear much bigger than they are in reality and I think, "Mmmmm, that looks good to me, think I'll order one". It's only once the box contents have been examined that I accept my folly.

As the Italian in 'allo, 'allo' would say "What a mistake-a da make-a". (any Brits reading will know what I'm talking about).

[ccoyle]

I used to build 1/700 back in the pre-PE days. Nowadays, I could never afford all of the extra goodies, and my eyesight ain't what it used to be.

[CDW]

1 hour ago, Canute said:

Those bits the carbide versions, Craig? They're brittle. I went back to the HSS versions. You did well with drilling so many holes per bit. I figure on 2 drill bits per car, if I'm replacing grab irons on an older car with grabs versus ladders.

 

21 minutes ago, RogerF said:

Were you using a pin-vice or drill or just your hands when drilling?

I bought a little battery-powered, 3-speed drill that can be charged via USB. I have used it extensively and the only drill bit I managed to snap after buying it was a 0.3mm drill which stabbed my thumb when I was removing another drill from a box of 50 micro-drills and broke off its shank in the process, and yes, there was blood! It disappeared into the flesh of my thumb with alarmingly kittle pressure.

 

This build has to be followed, but there is not a chance I'll be following suit. With Hood started, and a little more complex Bismarck to follow there is no way I could take on that Yamato beast but I'm really looking forward to a fellow "masochist" ruining his eyes, back and patience with this kit.

The trouble with these 1/700 kits is that in the photographs they look so innocuous. Complex, yes but the parts appear much bigger than they are in reality and I think, "Mmmmm, that looks good to me, think I'll order one". It's only once the box contents have been examined that I accept my folly.

As the Italian in 'allo, 'allo' would say "What a mistake-a da make-a". (any Brits reading will know what I'm talking about).

 

20 minutes ago, ccoyle said:

I used to build 1/700 back in the pre-PE days. Nowadays, I could never afford all of the extra goodies, and my eyesight ain't what it used to be.

 

Yes, these are the carbide bits, very brittle. The trade-off with wire bits seems to be higher durability for less sharpness/cutting ability of the carbide ones. I need to find a good supplier for high quality wire bits that are sharp.

I use a pin vice with the bits which works okay as long as I am careful not to apply any lateral pressure which will cause it instantly to snap. I pre-drill the hole with a fresh, sharp hypo needle first, then fully open the hole with the .5mm carbide bit in the pin vice.

Even with good eye sight, at least a 3X optivisor aid is needed. Almost impossible without it for me. I am currently using the 3.5X lens.

[Canute]

I use an ancient set of dividers to put pin hole marks in the plastic/resin, similar to what you'd do in a piece of metal. Very sharp points. And yes, magnification is a must, along with good lighting.

[mtdoramike]

Oh boy, can't wait to see this beauty take shape.

[RogerF]

3 hours ago, CDW said:

 

 

 

Edited October 30, 2021 by RogerF
double entry

[RogerF]

Just now, RogerF said:

The drill I use is very good and I haven't broken a single bit using it (mostly 0.3, 0.5mm and 1.1mm:

 

Cost me less than 20 bucks (Euro/USD) and is a pleasure to use. You DO need, however, to use a scriber or maybe hypo needle to give the drill bit an indentation to get started with - and a steady hand. It's perfect for plastic (and wood) and has no problem drilling small holes in brass and steel sheets of PE. After snipping the barrels off Hoods 15" guns (1/700) I used it to drill 0.5mm holes into the blast-bags to accept the brass barrel up-grades and this was done with me holding the plastic with my fingers while I drilled.

 

 

[CDW]

Finished drilling the remaining hull portholes on the second hull half.

 

 

The next task is drilling portholes in portions of the superstructure. 
 

[CDW]

3 hours ago, mtdoramike said:

Oh boy, can't wait to see this beauty take shape.

Glad to know you're aboard, Mike. 

[Canute]

Those green pieces in the directions are the drilling jigs, Craig?  Very nice touch.

[CDW]

Just now, Canute said:

Those green pieces in the directions are the drilling jigs, Craig?  Very nice touch.

Yes, photo etch drilling jigs. It would be next to impossible to keep the holes straight and spaced the correct distance without them.

[CDW]

And I think it allows Pontos to release (future) other year versions of Yamato and Musashi by a change in the photo etch rather than the plastic molds.

[Canute]

Pretty slick idea.

[CDW]

There's something to be said about this particular Pontos Yamato kit as well as Pontos update sets in general; the quality of the parts are very good from past experience (and now), but the modeler better be on his game when it comes to putting it all together. The instructions are little more than CAD drawings on heavy, gloss paper stock. You will inevitably need other reference materials to figure it all out. The parts are well provided, just very little in the way of instruction.

As a case in point, I now realize many of the portholes I drilled will be covered with a closed port cover. Only some of them will be in the open position. This means I could have simply marked the location of the ports using a sharp, fine needle. Only the ones with an open port needed to be fully drilled out, a total of approximately 100 of them. I learned of this by first doing an actual count of the number of open portholes on the photo etch fret VS: the number of closed port covers on the fret. Then I confirmed it by a close examination of the AOTS Yamato/Musashi reference book. It seems that various service years saw more or less open ports depending on the particular year being modeled. In this case, 1945. The number of ports do not change, just whether they were opened or closed.

In the future I am going to need to be more careful to first examine my references more closely to be sure I understand what's what.   

[CDW]

Here, the halves of the hull have been joined together with the bulkheads in place, everything cemented together with Tamiya thin liquid cement. The join was very good with only a slight join line present. With black primer sprayed along the joint, the join line was identified then given a touch of Mr Surfacer 500 along the line to cover it.

 

[CDW]

Preparing the mounts for a display base. Epoxy used to secure the mounting nuts inside the hull.

 

[CDW]

Got to be realistic as the daunting task of attaching 400 or more open and closed portholes will be a test of resolve. 
A sharpened toothpick being used to place and center the open portholes. Will have to use Kentucky wind age to place the closed ones.

 

[king derelict]

6 hours ago, CDW said:

Got to be realistic as the daunting task of attaching 400 or more open and closed portholes will be a test of resolve. 
A sharpened toothpick being used to place and center the open portholes. Will have to use Kentucky wind age to place the closed ones.

 

Its going to be a spectacular model Craig but the port holes are a significant piece of work. And now I know what Kentucky windage is

Alan

[CDW]

A random sampling of the combination of open and closed portholes that be scattered all over the hull and portions of the superstructure.

My AOTS reference shows the open and closed portholes specific to the year being modeled, but makes no reference as to why certain portholes were sealed shut instead of open. Makes me wonder???

 

Edited November 2, 2021 by CDW

[Old Collingwood]

You have got the patience of a saint  - you know that saint with lots and lots of patience.

 

OC.

Edited November 2, 2021 by Old Collingwood

[Landlubber Mike]

Nice job Craig.  For placing tiny pieces of PE like this, if you haven't already, try wax pickup pencils.  They hold the part which just enough adhesion and let the part go when it comes in contact with the surface.  Much easier than tweezers, toothpicks, etc.  They are used by people that do craft work like making jewelry to pick up tiny things like rhinestones.  I used them this weekend to attach the ends to depth charge cylinders that were maybe 2mm across if that.  Really easy.

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MF6VLZ5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Edited November 2, 2021 by Landlubber Mike

[CDW]

10 hours ago, Old Collingwood said:

You have goy the patience of a saint  - you know that saint with lots and lots of patience.

 

OC.

 

16 minutes ago, Landlubber Mike said:

Nice job Craig.  For placing tiny pieces of PE like this, if you haven't already, try wax pickup pencils.  They hold the part which just enough adhesion and let the part go when it comes in contact with the surface.  Much easier than tweezers, toothpicks, etc.  They are used by people that do craft work like making jewelry to pick up tiny things like rhinestones.  I used them this weekend to attach the ends to depth charge cylinders that were maybe 2mm across if that.  Really easy.

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MF6VLZ5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

 

 

Thanks OC

 

Great idea Mike. Thanks for the link, I ordered some. Looks perfect for what I'm doing.

[mikegr]

5 hours ago, Landlubber Mike said:

They hold the part which just enough adhesion and let the part go when it comes in contact with the surface.

 

Sounds like a dream to me😁

[Landlubber Mike]

15 minutes ago, mikegr said:

Sounds like a dream to me😁

 

They work great.  When you have very small pieces, it's impossible to hold them and avoid getting glue on the tweezers - for some reason in my case, PE likes to stick to everything else - fingers, tweezers, the bench, etc. - instantaneously with CA but not to the model.  I've tried holding pieces along the sizes (tweezers perpendicular to the part), but you have to be very careful about not accidentally increasing pressure or the dreaded ping happens which can lead to an hour searching for the part on the floor.  Been there, done that too many times to count.  🤬

 

I looked into the vacuum suction devices, but I think these pencils offer a much simpler, cost-effective solution.

Edited November 2, 2021 by Landlubber Mike

[CDW]

There is a lot of detail to be added to the hull before paint. Sequence is everything. Must be figured out on your own according to your assessment.